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ABRAM REESE, OEPITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA] Letters Patent No. 114,854, dated May 16, 1871.

IMPROVEMENT m Flx'i FOR PUDDLING AND OTHER FURNACES.

n5 Schedule referred to in them Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To-all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, ABRAM REESE, of Pittsbur 1n the county of -Allegheny and State of Pennsy Vania, have invented a new and useful improved Bottom and Fix for Puddling-Fnrnaces'; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In the construction of boiling and puddling-furnaces the bottom plate is commonly made of cast-iron. To prevent this plate from buining away from the action thereon of the melted iron, in the process of puddling or boiling, a covering is required for this bottom plate, or, as it is technically called, a bottom. This bottorn. should be of such character as not. to be readily fused or burned away, also such as not to act injuriouslyflon, and if possible such as to act beneficially on or nourish the iron which is being converted, .and

'as allor' the greater part of the material used in making the bottom is practically wasted or lost, it should be such as can be made atsmall expense. For this purpose wrought scrap-iron, reduced to cinder. by heat and atmospheric action, has been used, but a bottom so made is costly and not sufficiently durable. Puddlingfurnace cinder, squeezer cinder and hafnmer cinder have also been used with varying degrees, of success.

My improvement relates to the utilization for this purpose of another variety of cinder, commonly known as heating-furnace cinder, which has heretofore been regarded and treated as a'waste, useless product. This cindcris such asis given-oh in the reheating of muck-iron preparatoryto reworking.

The muck-iron, put up commonly in billets or fagots, is placed on asand-bed in a heating-furnace, and the exuding cinder, carrying with it sand and other foreign matter, runs oh at the flue, and is thrown away as slag, that being the name by which it is commonly known.

slag, with its impurities, just as it comes from the heatiug-fiunace' flue, place it in the puddling orboiling-furnace, melt it,andwhile .in a liquid sta e I subject it to the action of an alkaline flux, which causes the sand and other foreign matter to rise to the surface of the molten slag. Here the sand, 8m, maybe converted into a gas by the action of the heat and so carried off; or it may be splashed around into the sides of the furnace, or tapped off the top, the main object being to get rid of its presence in the molten slag. For the purlipse named various alkaline ingredien may be used, ut I preferto use unslaked lime, in-the proportion of about one part of lime, by weight. to one hundred of'sla The separation o' the sand from the molten sla is accomplished in. a very short time, andthen the l a ter is allowed to chill or solidify, forming a durable and almost costless covering or bottom. If desired, it can also be applied as a fix to the sides of the furnace by putting up while hot, in the manner employed in hot-fixing.

Also the slag, after being freed from itsimpurities as above described, may be'ruu out into some suitable receptacle while still in a'liquid state, and, after being ground or broken up, canbe used in the preparation of a bottom or hot or cold fix by methods already well known.

What I claim as my invention, and .desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The utilization of heating-furnace slag, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

2. A furnace bottom made of heating-furnace slag treated with a suitable alkaline substance, while in a molten state, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof, I, the said ABRAM Reuse,

have hereunto set my hand.

ABRAM REESE.

' Witnesses Joan GLENN, JAMES 1. KAY. 

